Global Challenge: Mexico

CAFELIX

My personal choice as for where to go when I need to “lock in”. Usually here for hours at a time working on an assignment, normally seen alongside a mango smoothie.

Mina El Túnel de las Almas

This is one of the six mines that used to operate in this town. They used to make gross smoothies for workers that they suspected of stealing so they’d throw up the gold. The chimney, La Ramona is from the processing plant that separated valuable metals. It was designed by Gustav Eifel.

Capilla de Ntra. Sra. De Guadalupe

Built in 1752, in 1939, there was a treasure of gold, silver, and pearl jewelry found in the basement of the church. It is said that the military took all wealth from people here, but something happened and they didn’t come back for it. Supposedly a psychic Mexican-French girl named Winter revealed the secret through visions This was first non mission church built in california.

Sierra de la Laguna

It is a biosphere greater than 10,000 hectares. The land stagnant bodies of water especially in the lowland areas, tropical dry forests, and pine forests. Here, the area provides water capture, offshore surf conditions, research as well as recreation. There are many pollinators and local agriculture includes chiles, strawberries, basil, and rosemary. The are has a very rich biodiversity. There have been many disputes over opening up the land for timber, mining, and oil and gas permits. There are 2 camera traps in the mountains used to monitor flora and faunas. This is the only source of water from the BCS region. Animals and plants cannot move from here since it is unique and it is too far to move to a place similar enough to survive. A fourth of the species in this area are endemic.

Isla Espiritu Santo

Here, we swam with sea lions, saw blue-footed boobies, and sailed on boats through coral reefs. We learned that blue-footed boobies are blue because of the fish they eat! We also learned that the islands holds the biggest colony of sea lions in Mexico as well as a frigatebird colony. These birds live in what used to be a mother pearl extraction site.

Museo del Vaquero de las Californias

In the tenth century, Spaniards adopted the Moorish practice of horseback riding. Warriors called jinetes rode with the saddle and short stirrups, allowing swift charges and better guiding of the horse. In 1273 the Spaniards created the Honorable Council of the Mesta of Shepherds to regulate animal management practices. When spanish settlements expanded across north america La Mesta conducted rodeos to determine ownership and animal management. The practice spread as mission ranches extended through the Baja California peninsula. For Example, Hernan Cortez first settled in Loreto then in 1769, soldier-vaqueros drove cattle north to Alta California. The indigenous people of Alta California were banned from riding horses by the Viceroy of New Spain in an effort to suppress rebellion. As such, they learned to rope on foot. When taught by Franciscan missionaries to help on ranches, they became the first roping vaqueros. In 1848, the war between Mexico and the US. separated the Californias, but the vaquero tradition remains unchanged. a

La Paz

La Paz is a much larger and more active town than Todos Santos. You will see boats in the bay advertising tours, as well as people in the streets doing the same things. There are many more sit down restaurants and tourist shops.

Paraíso del Mar

We took a fifteen minute boat ride to and from Marina Cortez in order to get in and out of our Airbnb. Had the diet of a frat boy for a night and then went back to Todos Santos in the morning. Has a very nice pool and pool bar as well as golf courses!

Baja California Sur Regional Museum

In addition to colonial and present day history, this museum details the indigenous and pre-columbian history of the B.C.S. region. Many indigenous people lived in the caves of the mountains, providing shelter from the rough terrain. Additionally, there are cave drawings in the mountains of San Fransico and Guadalupe that belong to these peoples, called “El Gran Mural”.

Taller 17

Taller 17 has been a popular local coffee shop in our group. Situated very centrally in downtown Todos Santos it is very easy to access. They make homemade pastries and delicious coffee and tea drinks.

Escuela Primaria "General Melitón Albañez"

This is a school for children grade 1 to 6. There are 25 children per classroom and two classes per grade, meaning there are 300 in all. Here, Antonio works with the school on composting, gardening, and recycling. Students chop up their organic waste at recess every day. The garden project started in 2023 when Antonio taught the kids how to grow corn, squash, chiles, and beans. It had a plastic irrigation system but the birds would pick at it: this is where our group comes in. We made olla pots, an ancient irrigation system where porous pots full of water will be placed underground near the plants in order to water them.

Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX)

This is airport we arrived into from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Mexico City to catch our connecting flight to the Los Cabos airport.

Inifap

Inifap is a scientific and and technological institution striving for ecological and agricultural innovation and the betterment of communities. Their most recent project is the one we had the chance to visit and help out at. It's an experimental field that works with local restaurants, grocery stores, gardeners, and households to compost their waste using 4 different methods. They are a nonprofit doing a lot of good for Todos Santos and surrounding communities.

Colorado State University Todos Santos Center

Our new home for the next 6 weeks! The CSU Todos Santos campus was a donation given to the school in 2015. The campus's mission is to promote learning and engagement between the United Sates and Mexico. Reunited with Antonio, he's been teaching us his zero waste methods that have been put into use on campus.

Todos Santos Cemetery

Usually, honking and music can be heard from the cemetery, but it was especially noticeable on the two nights of Día de los Muertos. There was a celebration with countless numbers of people drinking beer and riding horses.

Todos Santos

Located on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Todos Santos is known for its art galleries and surfing. It was originally founded in 1724 by missionaries and later became a big sugar-cane producer. Today, Todos Santos is a popular tourist destination and place for art and music festivals.

Los Mangos

Under haciendas, europeans had indigenous laborers. When the campesinos revolted, the ejido system was created and land was given back to the workers. families were given big chunks of land but then there was a communal property (los ejidos) where the whole town could use for gardening and raising animals. this example is still in use to this day!

El Mercado Ranchero

patricia cota started this market in town because she valued the artisan crafts of the ranchers. She comes from a ranching family where they make their own pots, leatherwork and weaving. Originally, it was a small market in the center of Todos Santos. Four years ago made it bigger on outskirts of town. Here, they sell jewelry, homemade food, clothes, tapestries, and even knives made out of car parts! Interestingly, most of the shoppers here spoke english, most likely american or canadian.

Barro Sur

This location, along with the CrossFit beside it, are owned by CSU and rented. The original idea was that CSU would do work here, but it ould have conflicted with the town (ex: couldn’t do free vet care because it would take away from the vets in town.) Barro Sur has rented his location for the past three years, rented by Steve and Kate, two American ceramicists and photographers. The place offers classes as well a subscriptions where people can work in the workshop whenever they want and have the right to sell their items in their store. For us, we worked with Maite to mold our clay pots for the garden project at the school.

Panteon Municipal

There are three separate cemeteries in the town of Triunfo: cemetery for witches, chinese, and english. Tombs are been regularly opened because people were looking for gold. Only five years ago, a boy went to the cemetery, defaced a witch tomb, then started throwing up for days. He then had to come back and place a tribute to the deceased and miraculously recovered. Don J Eleno Estrada is buried here. Eleno was the owner of much of the land of the town and was part of the masons. He was a blacksmith from spain and was also in the business of pearls, hurt immediately set his sights on gold in the town of Triunfo.

Todos Santos Brewing

Todos Santos Brewing is actually a bar owned by Germans, which serves Mexican food, drinks, live music, and occasional karaoke nights. We were here for a great Halloween night of karaoke!

El Triunfo

El Triunfo is an agricultural town now but it used to be a mine town due to its large amount of quartz, silver, and gold. It is a very small town with only about 300 people. The town was founded around 1730. in 1750, gold was found, so people from many different countries came here. The mining was started by chinese slaves. There was around 1,000 people here when it was a mining town. In 1829, El Triunfo became the capital of baja california sur for two years. The houses built here were moved to La Paz. It almost became a ghost town because there was a spread of skin cancer due to water contamination from the mines. They mixed water with mercury to separate gold from silver which caused the contamination. Now, people regularly live to 100 under the belief that quartz cleanse their illnesses. There is not much pollution today.

Casa de la Cultura Profr Néstor Agundez

Centro Cultural Profesor Néstor Agúndez Martínez is the local cultural center in Todos Santos. It's built on the grounds of Casa del Estudiante and was inaugurated in 1978. The murals on the walls depict the history of this region including the indigenous groups that lived here in pre-hispanic times: the Guaycuras, Pericues, and Cochinies. The center also features other historical, anthropological, and artistic objects and artifacts. It also displays the history, lifestyles, and artifacts of traditional rancherias in this area.

India Maya

This is not the actual location of the place we visited, as it is not available on a map, so this was the closest place I could add. Run by Rakel Aguilar Verde, India Maya is a clay studio just outside of Todos Santos. Here, she collects clay from the earth in the region of pescadero, todos santos, and la paz to create pottery. She then mixes this clay with ball clay, purifies it with water for 2 months, lets it sit for three, and then puts it in a pit fire for 4 days. She uses manure in the pit fire as well as compost to give the clay different colors. Next to her studio is her husband, Arturo’s metal-working shop. She has been making pottery for 10 years. We got clay from her workshop to make olla pots for the garden project at the primaria. We fired our finished pots here, as well.

Taller de Ulises Martínez

One half of the project El Color De La Memoria, Uli is a Oaxacan artist who now resides in La Paz. As a very sought after artist, countless murals of his can be seen throughout La Paz and Todos Santos. Many of his works interprets the relationship between human beings and nature through an indigenous perspective. We had the wonderful opportunity to print shirts with his artwork on them, as well as our semester logo.

San Juan

In this town of Todos Santos, Jose Antonio Guluarte has started his own orchard. Now a retiree, he was a dentist in the local area. He decided to start an orchard simply as a hobby! All of the plants are fed by organic compost of dry leaves, grass, and horse manure. He uses water on the trees every 15 days, which retention walls do a good job of maintaining.

Punta Lobos, Todos Santos

We hiked here from the beachfront where an old fish market was, to a beautiful beach in the oasis. It was about a 3 hour hike! We saw whales jumping out of the water and sea lions!

Grupo Tortuguero Todos Santos

Grupo Tortuguero is the beach conservation group that we had the privilege of working with for the baby sea turtle release. They work on a 35 km stretch of beach in Pescadero collecting sea turtle eggs, protecting them from predators and hatching them safely to be released. They collect eggs from July to November taking tour groups during the night to help collect the eggs. Then, from September to January they take groups at sunset to release the turtles once they've hatched. In recent seasons, they have released as many an 45,000 baby sea turtles into the ocean, and have seen significant population increases in the area.

Lavandería Julieta

Because we don't have washing machines on campus, we have to bring our dirty clothes into town to get cleaned. Lavandería Julieta is the closest to campus. You pay about $5 USD for Julieta to wash your clothes and she gets them back to you the next day, all nice and folded.